Luna
by 3R15UK0UM31
Summary: Alice listened to the sound of his footsteps, stable and metronomic as the clockwork in his chest, growing gradually more distant as he descended. And into the moonlight and the quiet, steady beat of his life she wove a song of her own memories. (Implied AlicexJulius)


**A friend requested a songfic. This was the song I landed on. I rolled with it.**

**I own nothing. Everything belongs to the lovely and ever enigmatic QuinRose gaming company.**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

_What moonsongs do you sing your babies?  
What sunshine do you bring?  
Who belongs? Who decides who's crazy?  
Who rights wrongs where others cling?  
I'll sing for you if you want me to  
I'll give to you_

_-Luna_

It was nighttime; from the top of the Clocktower, one could see all of the Country of Hearts spread out below them, bathed in delicate, silvery moonlight that played tricks on the eyes, turning the sharp corners of buildings soft and melting the individual trees into a forested blanket over the land. The light glinted off the arches of the ornate Castle of Hearts and the imposing gates in front of the Hatter's Mansion. The Amusement Park gave off its own sort of radiant multicolored light, shunning the soft moonbeams for a louder atmosphere.

Alice quietly admired the view, sitting in a chair she had pulled outside for just this purpose despite Julius' protests (it had taken him a bit to notice she was even doing anything out of the ordinary, but once he did see, he worried). Of course Alice had plenty of good sense of her own, and when it came to the two blanket-wrapped infants she held close to her, she almost certainly knew better than their father. The weather was mild enough that she didn't worry too much, but there was a chilly breeze this high up, so she took the precaution of an extra blanket.

For their part, the infants slept quietly, blissfully unaware both of the beautiful view and of the violence that the moonlight failed to illuminate but that was surely still ongoing below them. Despite the lack of a need for such a thing, their mother was singing quietly to them, snatches of songs she remembered from her own childhood, long ago in a different place. The songs were as much for herself as for the sleeping twins – they brought back a sweet sort of nostalgia, and gave a touch of reality to her faded memories of that other world, and her beloved sister. They were all she had left, really, other than her old dress with its frilly pinafore. She had moved past such things long ago (the dress, of course, wouldn't fit once she was far enough into her pregnancy, especially considering she was carrying two children instead of one), but it didn't hurt to bring up the past a little from time to time.

She heard only the sound of her own voice; it masked the booted footsteps until they were all the way up the stairs and had moved almost directly behind her. Yet somehow she wasn't surprised when she turned her head and saw the Knight of Hearts standing at her shoulder, his face impassive as he looked out over the same view she had been taking in for a while. It felt like a long while before he said anything, the sort of stretched silence that fills the space between two strangers who are aware of each other's presence but are still deciding whether or not to open their mouths.

"…I've never heard a song like that before~"

"It's from my old world," Alice replied simply. No point in lying about something so small. "My sister would sing songs sometimes. Some of the older ones, my…mother would sing." The hesitance to use the word showed how that particular pain had yet to entirely fade.

Ace seemed to turn that information over in his mind for a bit before speaking again, ruby eyes still fixed on the landscape in front of them. "I'm surprised you still remember them."

"I am too," the outsider admitted with a tender, almost fragile smile. "But I'm glad I do." Her eyes said she was telling the truth as she played with a corner of the blanket that had come loose from around the infants, who still slept as peacefully as ever, unperturbed by the appearance of a stranger. The moonlight danced lightly along the smooth, curved surface of the ring on her left hand.

Ace's hands were empty and bare as he gently took a bit of her hair between his fingers; he had just returned from work, and when he moved one could almost smell the blood that had stained his clothing. He let the long strands slide out of his grip one by one, as if he saw some importance in counting them out, in knowing exactly how many there were.

"Sometimes it's good not to let things go," he said quietly, letting her hair fall whisperingly back into place. "And sometimes I guess it's better if you do, hm?"

His tone made something tighten around her chest and near the base of her throat, and she squeezed her eyes shut for a moment to drive the feeling away. "That's right. I can't just let go entirely of where I came from, even if I know I'm not going back." That at least was a decision that was final, and one she was comfortable talking about.

She heard the knight's quiet chuckling behind her and it made her feel a little bit lighter. "Of course~. You've made Julius happy; that's all I could ask for." He did sound genuinely happy, but she felt that if she turned to look him in the eyes she might see something that didn't fit, and that she didn't want to see. So instead she looked into the pudgy faces of her daughters, the little tufts of dark hair on top of their heads just peeking out of the blankets.

Ace said nothing more. He rested his hand on top of her head for a moment and she could feel his warmth; the gesture was gentle and somehow longing in the way his fingers trailed through her hair even as he walked away, leaving what he hadn't said in the growing space between them. She listened to the sound of his footsteps, stable and metronomic as the clockwork in his chest, growing gradually more distant as he descended. And into the moonlight and the quiet, steady beat of his life she wove a song of her own memories.


End file.
